Swot

A SWOT analysis measures a business unit, a proposition or idea;

(A PEST analysis measures a market).

The origins of the SWOT analysis model

The brief history

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SWOT analysis came from the research conducted at Stanford Research Institute from 1960-1970. The background to SWOT stemmed from the need to find out why corporate planning failed. The research was funded by the fortune 500 companies to find out what could be done about this failure.

It was widely held that managing change and setting realistic objectives which carry the conviction of those responsible was difficult and often resulted in questionable compromises.

The fact remained, despite the corporate and long range planners, that the one and only missing link was how to get the management team agreed and committed to a comprehensive set of action programs.

To create this link, starting in 1960, Robert F Stewart at SRI in Menlo Park California lead a research team to discover what was going wrong with corporate planning, and then to find some sort of solution, or to create a system for enabling management teams agreed and committed to development work, which today we call 'managing change'.

WHAT IS SWOT

A SWOT analysis measures a business unit, a proposition or idea;

(A PEST analysis measures a market).

A SWOT analysis is somehow a subjective assessment of data which is organized by the SWOT format into a logical order that helps understanding, presentation, discussion and decision-making.

SWOT analysis can be used for all sorts of decision-making, and the SWOT template enables proactive thinking, rather than relying on habitual or instinctive reactions.

The SWOT analysis template is normally presented as a grid, comprising four sections, one for each of the SWOT headings: Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats.

The SWOT template below includes sample questions,...